June 2014 – Veronica Hewins – Authentic Indian cookery

Another inspirational speaker kept us enthralled this month and once again food was the theme for our meeting in June as our speaker, Veronica Hewins, demonstrated authentic Indian cookery. Whilst she cooked, Veronica explained to us the key elements in Indian cookery to ensure health: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and astringent. As she used the various spices she had brought along, she described the health benefits of each. At various states as she prepared a chicken curry, we were able to have a closer look. Veronica also cooked a potato and cauliflower aloo gobi. Whilst we tasted the finished dishes, Veronica recounted her life story. Her father was a railway worker and her very early life was reasonably comfortable until he retired and then through a series of circumstances she found herself in abject poverty in India. Her mother was mentally disturbed and the stigma of this ruined her marriage prospects until a marriage was arranged for her to a bank employee in England. Through these early experiences Veronica’s faith has been a mainstay and she has learnt to appreciate the good in life. A favourite saying of her’s is if life throws lemons at you, learn to make lemonade. Veronica believes in using the skills you have and so she turned to her cooking and teaching skills to demonstrate Indian cooking. We all felt we’d had a most enjoyable evening.